Suspicious Partner Episode 36 Recap

No Ji Wook (Ji Chang Wook) returns home. Eun Bong Hee (Nam Ji Hyun) watches Assistant Jang (Jang Hyuk Jin) help Ji Wook up the stairs. Ji Wook decides to go downstairs and sneak in some work. Bong Hee stops his descent and reminds him that the doctor released him on the condition that he was not to work. She states she will nurse him, but not in a personal level. Ji Wook doesn’t want to cooperate. Bong Hee guilts Ji Wook into cooperation with her own guilt that his injury was caused by saving her from Hyun Soo. Ji Wook relents allowing her bully porridge into him and tend to his wound. He can’t help but want to touch her during her ministrations and warns her he better take over. They lock eyes. She agrees and leaves.

Assistant Jang reports that the fire that killed his parents appears to be an accident. Ji Wook worries how to tell Bong Hee.

Ji Wook asks Bong Hee to speak with him after work. She agrees.

Ji Wook states he doesn’t know what cause the fire but he’s positive her father wasn’t a murderer. He’s positive her father didn’t kill his parents. In fact, he saved Ji Wook and died trying to save his parents. Ji Wook has tears in his eyes as he reveals this. Bong Hee doesn’t understand how her father was accused of murder. Ji Wook struggles to say it was his fault. Ji Wook admits he gave false testimony that her father was the murderer. She demands to know why. He protests the why would only be an excuse. She demands to know anyhow. Ji Wook believes he didn’t recall what happened and Prosecutor Jang, who falsely accused her father, coached him that her father was the murderer. Ji Wook says the Prosecutor’s office couldn’t admit to making mistakes. Now tears stream down Bong Hee’s face. Ji Wook can never justify the false testimony. Ji Wook stares at him stunned at the revelation.

Sorry, but I don’t buy the overwhelming guilt Ji Wook feels. He was a pawn used by Prosecutor Jang. He was a child manipulated by an adult. Bong Hee’s father was dead and wrongfully accused by Prosecutor Jang. I see only one guilty party and it is not Ji Wook.

Cha Yoo Jung (Nara) walks home with Lawyer Ji Eun Hyuk (Choi Tae Joon). She comments he’s being attentive lately. She asks if his concern is personal. He denies this. She smiles and says she almost misunderstood. She now knows they are friends. Ji Hae smiles and lies his concurrence.

At home, Yoo Jung wonders if releasing Lawyer Ji from a potential relationship was the right thing to do. She assures herself she made the right choice. Lawyer Ji stares at her apartment building and wonders if agreeing to be friends was the right thing to do.

Lawyer Byeon Young Hee (Lee Deok Hwa) meets with District Attorney Jang and tells him that Bong Hee didn’t kill his son, but Hyun Soo did. District Attorney Jang doesn’t want to hear it. Lawyer Byeon declares that District Attorney Jang isn’t stupid and he needs to stop his vendetta against Bong Hee. Lawyer Byeon asks District Attorney Jang to let Ji Wook become a prosecutor again.

District Attorney Jang reviews the evidence and ponders. He runs into Bong Hee in the hallway. She states wants to speak with him. She informs him who her father was. She stares into his eyes. She knows her father was framed to cover his mistake of assuming her father was the arsonist/murderer. She declares her father did not start the fire. She declares she did not kill his son. Angrily Bong Hee accuses District Attorney Jang’s pride of justifying falsifying evidence and harassment. She tells him the ripple effect on her father was devastating. She emphasizes her words “My father is not a murderer. You made the mistake of falsely accusing him.” She stares. He stares.

Later she allows her emotions to flow – relief, sadness, and anger.

Ji Wook and Bong Hee lock eyes when she returns to the office. She says nothing and turns away. Later she brings the items to tend his wound. He demurs she doesn’t have to. She insists. She asks if he feels guilty about her father. Ji Wook confirms this. Bong Hee admits that intellectually she knows District Attorney Jang is the reason her father was falsely accused she can’t forget that he gave false testimony. Ji Wook understands. Bong Hee tells Ji Wook to wait until she decides if she can forgive him and what her punishment will be. Ji Wook thanks her for returning. Bong Hee counters that she hasn’t returned. She’s compartmentalized her work from her personal matters. Ji Wook understands and is happy to have her in any capacity.

The next morning at the team meeting, the bickering is normal. Bong Hee smiles.

Ji Wook meets with Hyun Soo and asks if he remembers him. Hyun Soo laughs. Ji Wook asks if Hyun Soo’s memory is back. Hyun Soo confirms this. Ji Wook warns him that not only is he arrested for attempted murder he will also prove the other murders Hyun Soo committed. Ji Wook tells Hyun Soo a confession could lighten his sentence. Hyun Soo laughs. He taunts Ji Wook that he might have someone on his side.

Hyun Soo meets with Yoo Jung. He admits to all the murders. He feigns difficulty in determining where to start describing his murders. He begins with the unknown body found at the rooftop. He identifies the victim as Sung Jae Hyun who went to the same high school as Yang Jin Woo. He tells Yoo Jung not to interrupt him. He says the other victim is Jang Hee Joon. District Attorney Jang watches Hyun Soo admit to “accidently” killing his because Bong Hee saw him disposing of a body. When he went to her apartment to kill her, Jang Hee Joon was there and he stabbed him on impulse. Cruelly Hyun Soo stares at the one-way window and says Jang Hee Joon died crying for his father. He laughs. He declares to shut Jang Hee Joon up he stabbed him again so he would die and stop babbling.

Wow! That was brutally frank. Hyun Soo is a murderer. He cannot justify his actions, no matter what he tells himself. The extra stabbing to quiet Jang Hee Joon made my stomach turn. And then there’s Hyun Soo’s laugh that grates my nerves.

District Attorney Jang stares at the picture of his son and cries.

Bong Hee is surprised to see District Attorney Jang in the hallway. District Attorney Jang apologizes. Bong Hee refuses to accept his apology. He nodes and walks away. She stares after him.

When Hyun Soo exits the interrogation room, the police officer is told another will take him. The man escorts Hyun Soo to District Attorney Jang’s car. Hyun Soo gets in and laughs knowing he’s next to the father of a man he killed.

Ji Wook returns home and strides to his room. He retrieves the prosecutor’s robe from his closet. He recalls the phone call reinstating him as prosecutor. He smiles knowing now he has the power to take Hyun Soo down.

My Thoughts

Hyun Soo revealed his brutality. I was shocked at Hyun Soo’s reveal that he stabbed District Attorney Jang’s son a second time to stop his tears. While I don’t like District Attorney Jang, he is a parent who lost his child. Those words were details no parent would want to know. But it forced District Attorney Jang to admit his error to himself. He apologized to Bong Hee. She didn’t accept his apology. Nor should she. What will District Attorney Jang do with Hyun Soo?

Lawyer Ji Eun Hyuk (Choi Tae Joon) agreed to be friends with Yoo Jung. That’s the last thing that he wants, but the thing he thought he should do.

Eun Bong Hee (Nam Ji Hyun) got an apology from Ji Wook and District Attorney Jang. I applaud her confrontation with District Attorney Jang when she clearly identified District Attorney Jang’s pride and inability to admit to his own mistakes causing her family endless grief. I applaud her refusal to accept his apology. I’m not as understanding at her difficulty to cope with Ji Wook’s apology for being played like a puppet by District Attorney Jang when he was a child and giving false testimony against her father. But her reaction is like Ji Wook’s inability to separate Bong Hee from her father’s actions. Bong Hee is unable to separate what a manipulated young Ji Wook did with the man Ji Wook is today.

No Ji Wook (Ji Chang Wook) admitted that Bong Hee’s father didn’t kill but rather saved. I applaud him for having the difficult conversation with Bong Hee. He accepted her reaction, her desire to sort out her feelings, completely allowing her to process at her own pace. When Hyun Soo told Ji Wook that he might have someone on his side, who was he referring to? I applaud Lawyer Byeon for speaking with District Attorney Jang and admonishing him to open his eyes to the facts that Hyun Soo killed his son not Bong Hee. I applaud Lawyer Byeon for asking District Attorney Jang to reinstate Ji Wook as a prosecutor. The satisfaction in Ji Wook’s eyes as he held the prosecutor’s robe was good to see.

5 comments on “Suspicious Partner Episode 36 Recap”

Now that Ji Wook has confessed to Bong Hee that he was the one who gave false testimony about her father, I can see why she would still have some issues with Ji Wook, despite him realizing Bong Hee’s father saved him and died trying to save his parents. KJT mentioned that she does not “buy the overwhelming guilt Ji Wook feels.” I personally agree, but “Asian guilt” is a pretty powerful motivator.

Color 🖍 me 🎊 surprised🎉 that Attorney Byun confronted DA Jang about his treatment of Bong Hee. I was so proud of Bong Hee and her moxy to give it to DA Jang. It was really something to see DA Jang apologize to Bong Hee, but I can understand her not accepting his apology.

What is up with Yoo Jung brushing off Eun Hy…😴💤💤💤…who cares anymore???

Hyun Soo is back to his smug 😏 self again. Who could be the person on Hyun Soo’s side? Is my 🍭-faced Chan Ho still alive, if so would he still be on Hyun Soo’s side?

WTH…why did DA Jang take Hyun Soo away in his 🚗 car? Surely, DA Jang isn’t the one on the side of the one who murdered 🗡 his son. Is the DA going to kill ☠ him? Oh 😯 my goodness, what about the reputation/sanctity of the Prosecutors Office? I am especially annoyed 😟 with Chief Prosecutor’s corruption by covering up mistakes with the excuse of protecting 🛡 the “sanctity” of the Prosecutors’ Office. What a joke 🙄 they ruin the reputation of the Prosecutor’s Office by covering up mistakes and “sacrificing” innocent people instead of allowing the ones who made a mistake or is corrupt to take responsible…what,you cannot take the blame for your own mistake or corruption ⁉. 😔 COWARDS‼‼‼ The same kind of thing, to a more severe degree, is happening in “Lookout” which KJT is also currently blogging.

I’m glad that Ji Wook will be able to return to being a prosecutor, but what ❔ will become of Ji Wook’s law 💼 firm and all the associates with him becoming a prosecutor again⁉

I can hardly believe this will be over this week. What’s even harder to believe is I’m finally caught up on my comments, that is unless KJT has posted another recap before I finish this comment‼

Alright, I’m all caught up on this drama as well as the recaps 🙂 Great job KJT! I have loved every episode of this drama and especially the characters. This episode had several important revelations.

I do understand Bong Hee’s initial reaction to have some bad feelings towards Ji Wook. Although we all know and she knows that he was manipulated as a child, something he did still caused her a lot of pain and that can hit you on an emotional level.

And as for Ji Wook, I know I would feel guilty too. Part of me would wish that I could have done something to prevent being manipulated even though I would logically know that I couldn’t help it. I’m sure it’s a terribly conflicted feeling. I also really liked that Bong Hee confronted the DA. Good for her! Overall, a great episode as we had into the final stretch 🙂

Glad you are caught up. That’s a tough thing to do with as many dramas there are to watch! Having multiple dramas on the same air night kills me.

And as for Ji Wook, I know I would feel guilty too. Part of me would wish that I could have done something to prevent being manipulated even though I would logically know that I couldn’t help it. I’m sure it’s a terribly conflicted feeling. I also really liked that Bong Hee confronted the DA. Good for her! Overall, a great episode as we had into the final stretch
You put it well, Ji Wook is conflicted. Nailing Hyun Soo and clearing Bong Hee will help him feel he’s righted the wrong he did to her. I’m looking forward to wrapping this drama up even though I won’t see Ji Chang Wook again for another 2 years. I read an article stating he would have a final concert on July 22 before reporting for duty to the army.